Catching up my blog Part III: The Cedar Point trip!!!!!!!
I do not know if it is normal for an adult to find that Cedar Point is one of their favorite places to visit, so I guess it is a good thing I am resigned to being abnormal:) because I love Cedar Point. When we went last fall it reminded me of what it was to be alive and is one of the few truly wonderful memories I have before the winter blahs set in last year. Originally, I had planned to take A and B in May when the park first opened but that was when I first began really focusing on trying for the asst manager positions. D, N and I picked a weekend at the end of June that we were at first going to use for a camping trip. Plans changed and decided not to go camping but since we both had the time already decided to go to Cedar Point instead. I knew that I wanted to return for Holloweekends and so I wanted to purchase season passes for me, A and B-which would be $300.00. Then you have the cost of the hotel. I really wanted to stay on the island because I did not want to deal with driving and parking everyday at the park and the hassle involved. Staying on the island was cost prohibitive but I felt that if we really made an effort to bring at least two meals a day-sandwich stuff for lunch and milk and cereal for breaksfast it might be worth it. Then I wanted to bring J but was worried about her experience with me mostly focusing on the rides. My mom decided to go and since she would never ride any of the rides-or so we all thought anyway-she could be J's keeper. I was shocked that my mom wanted to go. Amusement parks are not my mom's thing at all and she and I had talked about taking the kids to Mackinac Island-but to be honest A did not really want to go. I guess my mom really wanted to take a vacation with us, or needed to get away or whatever-because she went with us and it was kind of fun. My time off was adjusted at work due to staffing issues so instead of going friday, saturday and sunday we were going monday, tuesday and wednesday. D was able to get an additional day off so they went sunday and monday and left for home tuesday morning. I got up at 5 on Monday so we could pick my mom and J up on the way. I called my mom the moment I woke up because I know how long it takes for her to get ready. I really wanted to have Monday be a day in the park not getting to the park and I wanted to meet D and N so we could have one fun day together. Of course, my mom was not ready when I got there. It really irritated me too because we got up earlier so we would not lose time by stopping at her house since she did not want to spend the night here like A and B. I called her the moment I woke up so she had an hour at least to get ready. We get to her house and needs milk and diet coke and a glass of ice and a whole wheat english muffin with chunky peanut butter, YIKES!!!!!! Plus we had to fit all of their stuff into the car too. I finally pointed out to her as politely as possible (ok, not very polite but not bad for having gotten up at 5 in the morning) that it was out of our way to pick her up and that we all got up an hour earlier just so she could sleep in her own bed sunday night, the least she could do was be ready and not hold us up. She made noises about why I needed to get there so early. I thought but never said that it was my trip, planned months ago and while she was welcome to join us, we had already set our itinerary and I had made her aware of it from the get go. But, the less said the better and soon enough we were on our way. The drive was pretty uneventful and I spent most of the time worrying about whether or not I would get the asst manager position I was supposed to hear about that day. We met N, D and M at the hotel. D found a hotel online that was near the park and had a free shuttle that took us to and from the park. The hotel was cheap enough that three nights there cost less than one night in the cheapest part of the hotel on the island. The hotel also had a free continental breakfast. In all it turned out pretty good, though I do have to admit that the shuttle-waiting for it, being on it why it dropped off folks from 5 different hotels-did eat into our time at the park. Luckily we had three full days there and so it was not as bad as it could have been by far. In fact, I plan to go next summer the second week-as soon as school is out-in June and stay for three more days at the same hotel-as long as they still have the shuttle. I would not do it in the busy tourist season of deep summer, when I know the shuttles can not possibly keep up with the demand, but early June should be good. I rode the Dragster with B, D and M. It was over fast and not that bad, though I have to admit that when we hit the top and started to go down I paniced and counted to calm my nerves. The whole ride is not more than 17 seconds-which is what I kept saying to myself in line- and I can do about anything for that short an amount of time. The pictures were hilarious and I gotta get D to send me a scanned copy of the pic because the face B is making is hilarious! We went back on the Raptor-the rollercoaster where your feet dangle-hated it again-though I was not as paniced as I had been the first time I went. We rode pretty much everything we wanted to except for the Millenium Force. We decided to stay for the fireworks and laser lights show. We had ridden everything we wanted to and decided to ride the Mantis-the stand up rollercoaster-one last time before the show started. Man, oh man, oh man. Somehow D and B talked me into riding in the first car. I think I must have still been high from the job offer:) We waited longer in line to ride in the front and nothing about the Mantis scares me, so I figured what the heck. As the ride was coming back I did notice that no one in the front car looked happy, but I was not sure why. As we got in I noticed that the restraint that goes over my head and snaps in around me had dead bugs all over it. I almost did not go, but B and D looked at me like I crazy so I went. Everything was going well and it was kind of cool to be in the front and I love the park at night all lit up. Then we passed over the water for the first time. Dear me, then I knew why the people getting out of the front car were not looking so happy. Our faces were serving as human windshields-easily a thousand bugs died smooshed onto my face, into my pores. By far it was the most disgusting experience of my life. Just the writing about it makes me quesy. Needless to say after that we did not ride in the front car (hell, the front 3 cars!) on any rides, even in the middle of the day:)
My other truly memorable experience happened after D, N and M had gone home. J was super suspicious of the rides. I did not want her to get on anything she was afraid of, but I am at the Point to ride the rides and did not really want to spend time watching her ride the same boring kids rides over and over. Thank goodness my mom was there. Anyway, I had been racking my brain for a ride that would not scare J. Finally I decided on the Disaster Transport. The Disaster Transport was basically a toboggan ride in the dark. It was short but kind of cool. I liked the idea of not really being able to see where you were going and it was not scary and did not have drops or curves, etc. So, my mom decided to go on the ride with us. LOL!!!! Well, the good news is J was not scared at all and in fact liked it alot. Too bad we can not say the same for my mom. My mom was ok getting on the ride until they started to pull us up the slope where you are then dropped (gently and not a great distance) into the toboggan portion of the ride. B does the impression best, but it went something like this. "Oh my god!!!! You weren't completely honest with me, I hear the click, click, click." She screamed, "Oh MY god." during the ride-until even J was comforting her-and when it was over she refused to get out immediately and even had tears in her eyes. It was hilarious. I mean it was such a nothing ride there were not even seat belts or a height restriction. Honestly, she was shaking and unsteady leaving. We were all laughing, though I was trying to be subtle about it. The kids-including J-wanted to go right back on and surprisingly enough my mom went back on for a second round. I wish I had my phone with me so I could have recorded her voice it was too funny. When she went back to work she told her co-workers that she rode a ride at Cedar Point and they were all surprised and impressed. Somehow I do not think she shared her comments on the ride.
All in all it was a great trip. I had never spent so many days in a row at Cedar Point and it was really nice. There is so much to see and do besides just the rollercoasters and it was fun to have the time to explore other options. We are planning to go back at the end of this month for Halloweekends and we are staying on the island. I want to take one of those period pictures-where you dress up in the costumes and everything. It is only about $50.00 and since we are staying on the island we can pick a time, take a shower and dress for it. I am thinking we should do it saturday when the park is at its busiest during halloweekends.
~~~~Where ever you go, There you are!!!
I do not know if it is normal for an adult to find that Cedar Point is one of their favorite places to visit, so I guess it is a good thing I am resigned to being abnormal:) because I love Cedar Point. When we went last fall it reminded me of what it was to be alive and is one of the few truly wonderful memories I have before the winter blahs set in last year. Originally, I had planned to take A and B in May when the park first opened but that was when I first began really focusing on trying for the asst manager positions. D, N and I picked a weekend at the end of June that we were at first going to use for a camping trip. Plans changed and decided not to go camping but since we both had the time already decided to go to Cedar Point instead. I knew that I wanted to return for Holloweekends and so I wanted to purchase season passes for me, A and B-which would be $300.00. Then you have the cost of the hotel. I really wanted to stay on the island because I did not want to deal with driving and parking everyday at the park and the hassle involved. Staying on the island was cost prohibitive but I felt that if we really made an effort to bring at least two meals a day-sandwich stuff for lunch and milk and cereal for breaksfast it might be worth it. Then I wanted to bring J but was worried about her experience with me mostly focusing on the rides. My mom decided to go and since she would never ride any of the rides-or so we all thought anyway-she could be J's keeper. I was shocked that my mom wanted to go. Amusement parks are not my mom's thing at all and she and I had talked about taking the kids to Mackinac Island-but to be honest A did not really want to go. I guess my mom really wanted to take a vacation with us, or needed to get away or whatever-because she went with us and it was kind of fun. My time off was adjusted at work due to staffing issues so instead of going friday, saturday and sunday we were going monday, tuesday and wednesday. D was able to get an additional day off so they went sunday and monday and left for home tuesday morning. I got up at 5 on Monday so we could pick my mom and J up on the way. I called my mom the moment I woke up because I know how long it takes for her to get ready. I really wanted to have Monday be a day in the park not getting to the park and I wanted to meet D and N so we could have one fun day together. Of course, my mom was not ready when I got there. It really irritated me too because we got up earlier so we would not lose time by stopping at her house since she did not want to spend the night here like A and B. I called her the moment I woke up so she had an hour at least to get ready. We get to her house and needs milk and diet coke and a glass of ice and a whole wheat english muffin with chunky peanut butter, YIKES!!!!!! Plus we had to fit all of their stuff into the car too. I finally pointed out to her as politely as possible (ok, not very polite but not bad for having gotten up at 5 in the morning) that it was out of our way to pick her up and that we all got up an hour earlier just so she could sleep in her own bed sunday night, the least she could do was be ready and not hold us up. She made noises about why I needed to get there so early. I thought but never said that it was my trip, planned months ago and while she was welcome to join us, we had already set our itinerary and I had made her aware of it from the get go. But, the less said the better and soon enough we were on our way. The drive was pretty uneventful and I spent most of the time worrying about whether or not I would get the asst manager position I was supposed to hear about that day. We met N, D and M at the hotel. D found a hotel online that was near the park and had a free shuttle that took us to and from the park. The hotel was cheap enough that three nights there cost less than one night in the cheapest part of the hotel on the island. The hotel also had a free continental breakfast. In all it turned out pretty good, though I do have to admit that the shuttle-waiting for it, being on it why it dropped off folks from 5 different hotels-did eat into our time at the park. Luckily we had three full days there and so it was not as bad as it could have been by far. In fact, I plan to go next summer the second week-as soon as school is out-in June and stay for three more days at the same hotel-as long as they still have the shuttle. I would not do it in the busy tourist season of deep summer, when I know the shuttles can not possibly keep up with the demand, but early June should be good. I rode the Dragster with B, D and M. It was over fast and not that bad, though I have to admit that when we hit the top and started to go down I paniced and counted to calm my nerves. The whole ride is not more than 17 seconds-which is what I kept saying to myself in line- and I can do about anything for that short an amount of time. The pictures were hilarious and I gotta get D to send me a scanned copy of the pic because the face B is making is hilarious! We went back on the Raptor-the rollercoaster where your feet dangle-hated it again-though I was not as paniced as I had been the first time I went. We rode pretty much everything we wanted to except for the Millenium Force. We decided to stay for the fireworks and laser lights show. We had ridden everything we wanted to and decided to ride the Mantis-the stand up rollercoaster-one last time before the show started. Man, oh man, oh man. Somehow D and B talked me into riding in the first car. I think I must have still been high from the job offer:) We waited longer in line to ride in the front and nothing about the Mantis scares me, so I figured what the heck. As the ride was coming back I did notice that no one in the front car looked happy, but I was not sure why. As we got in I noticed that the restraint that goes over my head and snaps in around me had dead bugs all over it. I almost did not go, but B and D looked at me like I crazy so I went. Everything was going well and it was kind of cool to be in the front and I love the park at night all lit up. Then we passed over the water for the first time. Dear me, then I knew why the people getting out of the front car were not looking so happy. Our faces were serving as human windshields-easily a thousand bugs died smooshed onto my face, into my pores. By far it was the most disgusting experience of my life. Just the writing about it makes me quesy. Needless to say after that we did not ride in the front car (hell, the front 3 cars!) on any rides, even in the middle of the day:)
My other truly memorable experience happened after D, N and M had gone home. J was super suspicious of the rides. I did not want her to get on anything she was afraid of, but I am at the Point to ride the rides and did not really want to spend time watching her ride the same boring kids rides over and over. Thank goodness my mom was there. Anyway, I had been racking my brain for a ride that would not scare J. Finally I decided on the Disaster Transport. The Disaster Transport was basically a toboggan ride in the dark. It was short but kind of cool. I liked the idea of not really being able to see where you were going and it was not scary and did not have drops or curves, etc. So, my mom decided to go on the ride with us. LOL!!!! Well, the good news is J was not scared at all and in fact liked it alot. Too bad we can not say the same for my mom. My mom was ok getting on the ride until they started to pull us up the slope where you are then dropped (gently and not a great distance) into the toboggan portion of the ride. B does the impression best, but it went something like this. "Oh my god!!!! You weren't completely honest with me, I hear the click, click, click." She screamed, "Oh MY god." during the ride-until even J was comforting her-and when it was over she refused to get out immediately and even had tears in her eyes. It was hilarious. I mean it was such a nothing ride there were not even seat belts or a height restriction. Honestly, she was shaking and unsteady leaving. We were all laughing, though I was trying to be subtle about it. The kids-including J-wanted to go right back on and surprisingly enough my mom went back on for a second round. I wish I had my phone with me so I could have recorded her voice it was too funny. When she went back to work she told her co-workers that she rode a ride at Cedar Point and they were all surprised and impressed. Somehow I do not think she shared her comments on the ride.
All in all it was a great trip. I had never spent so many days in a row at Cedar Point and it was really nice. There is so much to see and do besides just the rollercoasters and it was fun to have the time to explore other options. We are planning to go back at the end of this month for Halloweekends and we are staying on the island. I want to take one of those period pictures-where you dress up in the costumes and everything. It is only about $50.00 and since we are staying on the island we can pick a time, take a shower and dress for it. I am thinking we should do it saturday when the park is at its busiest during halloweekends.
~~~~Where ever you go, There you are!!!
posted by Laileanah at 10:09 AM
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